treacherous traveling

i ran 6 miles on Tuesday evening, and i felt great. I was 'that girl'. Running in the 20 degree weather, in shorts. I set out only planning to run 4, but the weather made for great running so i kept on going. i was trying to get a feel for my 10K pace, and then out of the blue, my Garmin battery died somewhere around mile 3. bummer. i think i probably finished about 50:00.

now, off to my trip to Seattle.....this is a long story, but then again, so was my day.

i got up at 5:15am wednesday morning to go to the gym since i knew i wouldn't have time after work, since my flight to Seattle left at 8pm. if i would've known what lay ahead of me, i probably would've slept longer.

i'd been watching the Weather Channel during the flight and they kept mentioning the snow and ice in the Pacific Northwest, so i knew the conditions were not ideal. but we landed safely in Seattle, where i got a voicemail from Todd saying that he drove two blocks from his apt and couldn't make it any further up the hill. great. he'd called rental car companies, nobody had any 4 wheel drive cars available, he called limos, shuttles and nobody had availability to pick me up. it was almost midnight, i was exhausted, dehydrated and my cell phone battery was dead. i just stood in the airport and cried.

luckily, my luggage finally got there and i was able to charge my phone and call him back. i really didn't want to have to stay in a hotel, so my last option was to see if any taxis would drive me out to his apartment in Sammamish, which is normally a 30-45 minute drive. i went to the taxi pick-up area and got in line behind about 70 other people, where i waited for about 45 minutes. i talked to a couple who were headed to Issaquah, a town near Sammamish, so we planned to get a cab together.

all the police officers there told us to just get a hotel, the roads off of the interstates were horrible and we'd probably end up getting stranded since our destinations were in very hilly/mountainous areas. i just wanted to go to sleep and the other couple was determined to get home. a taxi pulled up and out stepped a driver whom i could barely even understand and who didn't even know where Issaquah and Sammamish were. luckily, the other couple said they'd direct him.

We left the airport around 1 am (think 3am kansas time). there were hundreds of cars deserted along the roads, people just couldn't go any further and left them there. thank God this taxi had good tires, luggage weighing down the back, and a taxi driver determined to get us home. we got to Issaquah, and i was left to direct the cabbie the last 5 miles. we kept going and every hill we made it up, i just thought 'thats one less hill i'll have to walk my luggage up when this car stops'. fortunately, we finally arrived where Todd was waiting for me. i've never been happier to see him. so $80 and a nearly 2 hour cab ride, i was safe. poor cabbie though, he had no clue where he was so we gave him the best directions possible and wished him luck.

i got to bed around 3:00, so basically i had been up for 24 hours. it was definitely one of the scariest travel epsiodes i've ever had, but i made it here. and other than the ice and inability to drive anywhere, it's really pretty. with the help of two good samaritans, we finally got Todd's car back home. but we're riding the bus everywhere now.